Declarations
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Andy Caldecott (AUS – KTM – 1st)
“I think I was lucky. I started 28th today, far behind the leaders. I think it made the stage easier for me in terms of navigation. I am quite surprised to win today, since I didn’t really prepare for this rally. For the upcoming days, I won‘t change a thing. I will ride at my pace. Maybe it will work but it is not my main goal. Otherwise, I’ll ride for the team.â€
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Andy Grider (USA – KTM – 2nd)
"I felt myself at home today. The stage looked like the bajas we ride in the USA. So, I was quite at ease. I had no problem of navigation since I only had to follow the riders who started before me. Anyway, I’m quite surprised to clock such a good result early in the rally. Actually, I am here to learn. And I am sure the dune stages will be much more difficult for me".
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Cyril Despres (FRA - KTM - 3rd)
"It’s not important to be the leader of the race today because I was continuously stressed by the speed limitation during the stage. I was afraid of falling down. It’s more a problem than anything else, you have to throttle and slow down all the time. Now that the stage is over, I’m so tense about that. I do hope that was just a training day and that I made mistakes because of my driving but I didn’t enjoy the course at all."
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Carlo de Gavardo (CHI - KTM – 4th)
"I was a nice stage. It was a bit dangerous since there were many holes and stones on the course. I thrightened myself twice because I was riding very fast, just at the speed limit and it was very shaky. But everything went on well. I made a little mistake when I followed Despres. We got lost together. Luckily we quickly found the good track."
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José Manuel Pellicer (SPA - KTM – 5th)
“It was a very fast stage. Very fast indeed. I fell as I was passing over a huge hole. When I saw it was that huge, I jumped off my bike because I was very surprised. I fell on the ground and broke my helmet. But everything is OK. Actually I think I took too many risks. When I caught up the leaders, I stayed with them. But they rode definitely too fast for me. And on this kind of stage, it is too dangerous for me.â€